Congratulations on International Human Rights Day?

The 71st anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations coincides with the aftermath of widespread protests in Iran, including a stance on those killed and arrested. Human rights defenders and Iranian officials have taken a stand on this issue.

On December 10, the “Society for the Defense of Human Rights of Iran” wrote in an online statement: “Today is International Human Rights Day. Can we congratulate you on this day? And that is in a situation where in the November protests against the spread of poverty and injustice, against the boundless political and economic corruption of government officials from all factions, against looting and plunder… hundreds of our compatriots have been killed and thousands are captured and in prison.”

The statement continued that all high-ranking officials of the Islamic Republic, “from Ayatollah Khamenei at the top to President Rouhani, cabinet ministers, the judiciary, the parliament, various political factions from fundamentalists to reformists,” have “either beaten the drum of ‘glorification of crime’ or remained silent, or at most have expressed limited and fruitless protests here and there” regarding the November unrest.

At the end of its statement, the Society for the Defense of Human Rights of Iran called on the “international community” to “force the Islamic Republic regime to accept an investigation by independent human rights experts into the Aban massacre, its perpetrators, and bring them to justice.”

“With each other and for each other”

Shirin Ebadi, the head of the Human Rights Defenders Center and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, congratulated the people of Iran on International Human Rights Day. In a special message to the Human Rights Defenders Center in Iran, she wrote: “I know that you have gone through difficult years, especially these days when you are still grieving the painful events of November. We all know that our country is standing at a sensitive historical crossroads. On one side, tyranny with a loaded gun – as you saw in November – stands to kill and plunder national property, using the weapon of religion; the same religion that you were proud of. And on the other side, the abyss of chaos, unrest, and civil war. But we will certainly cross this crossroads with unity. We will leave both the valleys of tyranny and civil war behind us and reach the green plain of freedom and liberation. I know that that day is not far away, and we will all strive to achieve this goal; together and for each other.”

"Unrest, not protest"

The Secretary of the Human Rights Headquarters of the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran has also made statements on the recent protests on International Human Rights Day, without addressing the human rights situation in Iran. In response to the statements of Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, regarding the killing and arrest of protesters, Javad Larijani wrote: "For the information of the High Commissioner, I emphasize that in recent incidents, individuals have not been arrested for participating in peaceful demonstrations or mass protests."

Larijani, while stating that the Islamic Republic was facing “riots” and not “protests,” claimed that protesters were not killed by government forces. He wrote: “Burning down more than 700 gas stations, destroying more than 200 bank branches, public service centers, and mosques, and shooting people in the streets, and that too in a very short period of time, is not possible without terrorist preparations.”

Ms. Bachelet wrote in a statement released on December 6 that, based on the released videos, "some security officers fired directly from behind at unarmed people who were fleeing."

The protesters were “the poor masses of society”

Contrary to the statements of Larijani and other Islamic Republic officials, Ali Motahari, a representative of Tehran in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, says that the protesters in January were ordinary people.

He called blaming the People's Mojahedin Organization or the royalists for the recent protests a "false analysis" and emphasized: "According to the admission of our own intelligence agencies, it was the poor masses of society who protested, and we must think about them."

Amnesty International has announced the latest death toll from the recent protests in Iran at 208. Thousands of people were injured and arrested in these protests.

Source: DW